bounty chocolate: October 2012

Double limoncello poppy seed cookies + homemade limoncello

Trying to solve the boozy cookbook problem I thought that it would be nice having a bottle of limoncello at home – it seemed to be the perfect alcoholic acquisition for a person like me. Unfortunately that idea was discarded the minute I saw how much a bottle of limoncello cost. :S
Luckily for me, there was a recipe for homemade limoncello in Francine Segan’s beautiful book and it was super

Coconut and raspberry cakes

I love baking with coconut - it's an ingredient I always have in my pantry. I had other plans for the coconut used in these adorable little cakes, but when I saw them on the magazine I could not resist. The cakes tasted great and were super tender, and it was also an opportunity to use the mini Bundt pans I hadn't used in ages; while unmolding the cakes I remembered why: it is always so

Marzipan brownies

I might be someone who loves sweets (and this blog is proof of that), but even I know there’s a certain limit to be considered: to avoid the risk of eating the marzipan left from the berry muffins I set up to find other delicious recipes to use the marzipan in, and after reading something about a chocolate marzipan cake somewhere – I am getting old and I don’t remember where, sorry – I thought

Provolone and lemon pasta

I don’t know if the same happens to you, but sometimes I keep certain recipes in my head for a long time – it’s completely unintentional and there are times it takes me forever to actually make the recipe. I first saw this provolone and lemon pasta recipe several months ago (I believe it was last year) and thought it would be very tasty: a pasta sauce made of cheese and lemon? Perfect. Fast

Oreo and peanut butter pie

After several posts with fruit-based sweets I now bring you something extremely sinful: crushed Oreo cookies, topped with peanut butter and chocolate. I know, I know, this is not what we would call a light dessert, but certain moments call for decadent, over-the-top sweets – and on all the other days you can have an apple after lunch. ;)

Oreo and peanut butter pie
slightly adapted from the

Tangerine butter cake

Looking for a simple cake recipe, I found this golden and delicious cake - it is the perfect companion for a cup of tea; it was a great way to use up the sweetened condensed milk left from the cheesecake making, as well a a wonderful way to put to good use some tangerines I'd had in the fridge for more than one week.

Tangerine butter cake
slightly adapted from Dan Lepard's column at the

White chocolate cheesecake with passion fruit sauce

The sour² cake I published the other day was just the beginning of a passion fruit frenzy: not only because I love the fruit but also because I got hypnotized by its amazing smell and brought home too many at once. :D

I’m always inclined to mix white chocolate with citrus flavors because the acidity seems to cut through the sweetness like no other flavors do – that is why I could not resist

Apple berry almond tart, baking failures and "Munich"

I’ve trashed Steven Spielberg once or twice already (despite loving “Jaws” and the Indiana Jones trilogy), but last week I saw an excellent movie directed by him: “Munich”. It’s a very long movie (almost 3 hours long), but it keeps you hooked every step of the way – it’s like those books you feel like taking to the shower with you because you can’t put them down. The cast is packed with

Lemon cake with passion fruit syrup

I've admitted that this blog has had its share of lemon tarts and bars, so I won't even mention the massive amount of lemon cakes, right? :D
Lemon cakes are my favorite cakes, and I pretty much always have lemons around, therefore it's an easy choice for me. This time, however, I've more than satisfied my constant cravings for sour flavors by topping a lemon cake with a passion fruit syrup:

Spiced chestnut financiers

Financiers are one of my favorite things to bake: they are so cute and petite, I love anything almond and always have more than enough egg whites in the freezer. So while baking with my chestnut flour I immediately thought of a financier version made with it, which turned out interesting with a hint of cinnamon; however, unlike the financiers made with almond meal, the flavor in these did not

Lemon & honey Anzac tart

Lemon tarts – or lemon bars, for that matter – are not something exactly new on this blog, but since they’re among the most delicious desserts out there I never tire of baking them. When I saw the Australian Delicious lemon tart version with a crust made of Anzac cookies I had to bake it and I’m glad I did: the tart is wonderful and not difficult to make. I believe that store-bought ANZAC

Baked apple and maple doughnuts

One of the many things I loved about NY was the food: I ate wonderful things in several places, and brought home some great ingredients, too; I had many, many addresses on my list and unfortunately couldn’t go to all of them, and one of those places was the Doughnut Plant – my plan was to try their crème brûlée doughnut, but that will have to be done on my next trip to NY.
While that doesn’t

Chocolate stout cake with peanut butter frosting

I've been trying to keep up with the inventory idea for the last year and it's worked out fine so far: the ingredients no longer end up in the garbage and that is great. From time to time I check the contents of my pantry/freezer/fridge to make sure nothing goes to waste and a couple of days ago I found a can of Guinness beer in the cupboard; while searching for something delicious to make with

Marzipan and berry muffins with amazingly good homemade marzipan

Certain things to me are revelations, and Paul Hollywood’s fabulous homemade marzipan was one: when I was little every time my German grandmother came to visit she would bring small boxes of marzipan – she loved the stuff. Soon I began loving marzipan, too, and that was pretty much the only good thing about grandma’s visits (let’s just say she wasn’t a pleasant person to be around).

Grandma

Almond joy tartlets

A couple of months ago my friend Ana Elisa and I were talking about the new Baked cookbook that was about to be released (it’s out now). We were talking about purchasing the book or not, since both of us have the other two Baked cookbooks but neither of us have baked much from them. Culinary coincidences, I guess. Then Ana decided to put those cookbooks into some good use and kept telling me